‘Life’ is solid and engaging throughout

“Life” does not have a lot of new thematic developments to add when it comes sci-fi scares, but it knows how to do them well and provides just enough “look behind you!” tension to merit a big-screen view with a crowded theater in which armrests will be gripped and kneaded like stress balls during its runtime.

Working like an antithesis to 2015’s “The Martian” (and perhaps even more like a clone of Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece “Alien”), “Life” keeps us floating in the close confines of a multinational team of astronauts carrying back precious cargo with Martian soil samples.

When a British doctor (played by Ariyon Bakare) begins to tinker with them, a tiny, gelatinous blob begins to appear and respond to his interactions. But before you can say “Little Shop of Horrors,” the little bud grows into, well ... a slithery mass of Martian molecular menace.

The rest of the crew struggles to contain their galactic hitchhiker while the entire station begins its return trip back to Earth.

They include: introspective U.S. astronaut David Jordan (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), a Centers for Disease Control analyst (played by Rebecca Ferguson), and Deadpool in space (played by Ryan Reynolds, not really as Deadpool, but bringing the same motor-mouthed sarcasm that has become Reynolds’ trademark).

When it comes to the cast, there is little surprise as to who will end up being alien kibble, but the writers manage to throw in more than one surprise with their order, as well as a couple sweet little twists of the knife that you should not let anyone spoil for you.

The alien itself evolves into a variation of Scott’s immortal stomach-bursting creation, which was a slight disappointment, as the filmmakers could have made a beast that is “all muscle, all nerve and all eye” into whatever their dreams - or nightmares - could concoct. But the real tension in “Life” is crafted by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (“Nocturnal Animals”) who spins his camera through the claustrophobic, weightless station with subtlety that relies more on slow-building terror than cheap jump scares.

As previously noted, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Werneck (both responsible for “Deadpool,” which explains Reynolds’ characterization) deserve credit as well for playing with the order and manner in which their doomed crew members are subsequently overtaken by the Martian manhunter.

While it never reaches the same galaxy of Scott’s crowning achievement, “Life” remains solid and engaging throughout. You may not be able to hear anyone screaming in space, but you will certainly expect to hear it from those who allow the film to slip under the skin and take hold of their nerves.